Teeny, tiny lobsters

Baby European lobsters from the Helgoland Biological Institute, part of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, lie in cups before scientists released them into the North Sea at Helgoland Island, Germany, Aug. 3, 2013.

Scientists released a total of 415 one-year-old lobsters as part of an effort to repopulate the lobster population around Helgoland. In the 19th century local fishermen caught up to 80,000 lobsters a year in the surrounding waters. This aggressive fishing, combined with the heavy allied bombing of the island during and after World War II, as well as other environmental factors, decimated the lobster population in the area.

Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Isabel Schmalenbach, an environmental scientist with the Helgoland Biological Institute, part of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, tosses an adult female European lobster into the North Sea before releasing baby lobsters off the coast of Helgoland Island, Aug. 3, 2013.

Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Volunteers Anna-Sophie Brands and Susanne Wiechmann pull baby European lobsters from their cubbies at the Helgoland Biological Institute to load them onto trays and later release them into the North Sea, Aug. 3, 2013.

Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

A one-year-old European lobster, approximtely 8 cm long, lies in a cubicle at the Helgoland Biological Institute, Aug. 3, 2013.